The first clip from Andrew Dominik‘s Killing Them Softly has gone online. The film (formerly titled Cogan’s Trade) stars Brad Pitt as a mob enforcer who’s tasked with investigating the robbery of a high-stakes poker game. The terrific cast also includes Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Richard Jenkins, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy, Bella Heathcote, and Sam Shepard. The clip shows Shepard’s character roughing up Liotta, and it gives an indication of the tone Dominik’s trying to strike. There’s some clever camerawork culminating in a bit of dark comedy, and I’m curious to see if the rest of the film has the same attitude.

Hit the jump to check out the clip, and click here to check out some images from the movie. Killing Them Softly will premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, and hit theaters stateside on September 21st.

Here’s the synopsis for the source material, George V. Higgins’ novel Cogan’s Trade:

[Cogan’s Trade] tracks Jackie Cogan’s career in a gangland version of law and order. For Cogan is an enforcer; and when the Mob’s rules get broken, he gets hired to ply his trade — murder. In the gritty, tough-talking pages of Higgins’s 1974 national best-seller, Cogan is called in when a high-stake card game under the protection of the Mob is heisted. Expertly, with a ruthless businessman’s efficiency, a shrewd sense of other people’s weaknesses, and a style as cold as his stare, Cogan moves with reliable precision to restore the status quo as ill-conceived capers and double-dealing shenanigans erupt into high-voltage violence. [Amazon]